With the publication of Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, Yates transformed Renaissancehistoriography. In it, she revealed the hermeticism with which the Renaissance was imbued, and the revived interest in mysticism, magic and Gnosticism of Late Antiquity that survived the Middle Ages. In the face of longstanding conventional interpretations, Yates suggested that the itinerant Catholic priest Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in 1600 for espousing the Hermetic tradition rather than his affirmation of heliocentricity.

The book is cited by the bestselling British author Philip Pullman, as a central inspiration for his own writing.[1]